Poetry, music and mysticism highlight free concert at Wright State

Latif Bolat will present a concert of song, music and poetry on March 4 in Wright State’s Schuster Hall in the Creative Arts Center.

Latif Bolat, a Turkish musician who performs worldwide, will present a concert of song, music and poetry at Wright State University. Wright State students will participate in the concert.

Bolat will perform on Monday, March 4, at 4 p.m. in Schuster Hall in the Creative Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public.

Bolat specializes in Sufi music and poetry, which is a mystical approach to Islam.

“Sufi stresses an esoteric approach to the Islamic faith as a way to understand god and to draw closer to god,” said Awad Halabi, Ph.D., professor of history and director of the Master of Humanities program, who has kept in touch with Bolat since the musician’s last performance at Wright State in 2018.

Halabi said the concert is a cultural activity that many Wright State students otherwise would not be exposed to, particularly the mystical poetry and devotional music.

“It’s an opportunity to promote diversity and a knowledge of another culture on campus and is part of the wider university experience,” he said.

During the concert, students in an English poetry course taught by Marjory Wentworth, adjunct faculty member, will recite Sufi poems while Bolat plays mystical music.

“Poetry is central to understanding mysticism. Sufism is largely associated with poets,” Halabi said.

Wright State’s Collegiate Chorale, conducted by Nathan Nagir, D.M.A., vocal instructor and director of choral studies, will perform a Turkish folk song.

“This will be an opportunity to diversify and internationalize the campus community,” Halabi said.